Author: NY TIMES

The Biden administration on Thursday announced plans to provide $162 million in federal grants to Microchip Technology, an Arizona-based semiconductor company that supplies the automotive, defense and other industries.The agreement is the second award announced under a new program intended to help ensure that American companies that rely on semiconductors have a stable supply. Last month, the Biden administration announced a $35 million grant for BAE Systems, a defense contractor.The investment will enable Microchip to increase its production of semiconductors that are used in cars, airplanes, appliances, medical devices and military products. The administration said it expected the award to…

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Sure, a security guard walks by during Carmen and José’s final confrontation and doesn’t intervene. And at the end, the women in the bleachers at the rodeo rise in solidarity while the men remain seated. But it’s all too little, too late for anything approaching a structural critique — or even just interesting, vibrant theater.Some of Cracknell’s choices, in fact, make the work less provocative. The children’s chorus mimics the changing of the guard in the opera’s opening act; if you’d like, society is training them for militarism. But rather than doubling down, Cracknell has the kids sing directly to…

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Israel said on Wednesday that in November it had dismantled a tunnel below Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the medical facility that Israel and allies have said Hamas used as a shield for a vast underground militia complex.The 250-meter tunnel, about 273 yards, was dismantled without damaging the hospital, the Israeli military said in a statement. The tunnel “led to a number of significant terrorist centers and was used for carrying out terrorist operations,” the military said.The hospital was the site of an Israeli operation in November to seize control of the facility, drawing international scrutiny and condemnation. It was…

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Jennifer Hermoso, the Spanish soccer star who received an unsolicited kiss on the mouth after her team won the World Cup, gave evidence in Spain’s National Court Tuesday morning against Luis Rubiales, the former Spanish soccer boss who is being investigated over allegations of sexual assault and coercion in connection with the episode.Ms. Hermoso’s testimony concludes the high-profile criminal inquiry of Mr. Rubiales, which was opened days after the World Cup, which took place in Sydney, Australia, in August.A judge, Francisco de Jorge, must now decide whether to charge Mr. Rubiales or to close the case. If Judge de Jorge…

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The Messenger, a digital news start-up that launched last year with big ambitions, will cut about two dozen employees this week as it faces dwindling cash reserves, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.The employees are expected to be laid off this week as part of a cost-cutting measure, said the person, who would speak only anonymously because the staff had not yet been notified. The company is facing financial headwinds in a tough digital ad market that have put a squeeze on its operations, the person said.In a statement, The Messenger said it was “in the midst…

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Several prominent museums have been unable to display their collections online since a cyberattack hit a prominent technological service provider that helps hundreds of cultural organizations show their works digitally and manage internal documents.The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Rubin Museum of Art in New York and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas were among the institutions confirming that their systems have experienced outages in recent days. The service provider, Gallery Systems, said in a recent message to clients, which was obtained by The New York Times, that it had noticed a problem on Dec. 28,…

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The rock band Rage Against the Machine is done touring and playing live shows, its drummer said in a social media post on Wednesday.The band previously canceled the remaining performances of a reunion tour of Europe and North America that had been delayed by the pandemic and were planned for 2022 and 2023. They will not be rescheduled.“While there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future,” the drummer, Brad Wilk, wrote in an Instagram post, “I want to let you know that RATM (Tim, Zack, Tom and I) will not be touring or playing live…

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Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday delayed the enactment of a new law that makes it harder to remove a prime minister from office — the court’s second ruling in three days that impeded attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to gain more power.The new measure says that a sitting prime minister can be judged unfit for office and removed only by votes of three-quarters of cabinet ministers and two-thirds of the Parliament. Previously, a prime minister could have been ruled unfit for office by the attorney general and the courts.But the Supreme Court, in a 6-to-5 decision, ruled on…

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